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Gregorios III Laham, Patriarch of Antioch and of All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church

Your
Beatitude, Christians in Syria celebratethis year their thirdChristmassince the crisis began. How is yourcommunity celebratingChristmas thisyear?

Gregorios III: We
havenowhad an experiencewiththe crisis, but we move on.The SyrianChristianstraditionally
celebratewith the Christmas tree,
nativityandlights
in the windows. The familiesdevotethe Christmas season for reflection.BeforeChristmas wehavein Damascus the assembly
of bishops, deacons and nunsofvarious Christiandenominations.
The day is spentwithprayer, reflection and repentance, and
we have a meal together.

So
everything isas before
the crisis?

Gregorios III: Actually,
everythingisas before,except forsomeminor
differences.Previously, peoplemetat nightto pray together, todaythey do itduring
the day. Theyprefer to stayat home at nightbecause of the generalsecuritysituation.And there isa difference: in the past, Christmaswas celebratedmoreopenly and Christiandignitariesmet withrepresentatives of the Syriangovernment.
Todaywe holdback.
But thechurchesin
Syriaareas full asbefore the war.Iam
looking forward toourChristmas
party. A few weeks agoI wrotetoall ourbishopsthattheyprayfor the successof the plannedpeace talksin Geneva.

The war inSyria hasalreadyclaimed the lives ofmanypeople, including many Christians...

Gregorios III: Peoplecommemorateat Christmas their deadand the fallen.Thousands
ofChristians werevictims of the
warin Syria, their families mourn
them, and they find solace in the celebrationof Christ'sbirth. I
havethereforelaunched an
initiative: All names of the fallenand murdered are to becompiledon a list.I am going towriteall thesefamiliesaletter in whichI expressmycondolencesto them. Also, Iam
committedthat thesefamilies
receivea smallfinancial
donationso they cancelebrate Christmastogether.

How has
everyday life changedfor theSyrian Christianssince 2011?

Gregorios III: Syriais secure andinsecureat the same time.Theunpredictabilityof the situationcauses trouble to allSyrians, whetherChristians, Sunnis, Shiites, AlawitesorDruze. A grenade
canfall from the skyor a bomb
explodes, everything isdestroyed andpeople die. I cangive
you an example: Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus, was hit by about2,800 grenadesduring the war; I am not evencounting thebombexplosions.Agrenadehitthe VaticanEmbassy
inDamascus on November 6.Thisall makes lifeinsecure. ButI can give youone reassurance: Most
people lead a normallife despite the
risk. They go to workand go
shopping at themarket. This
shows the strength of thesepeople. WhetherChristians or Muslims, Syrians especially in Damascus wantto lead anormal life.

In other
areasin
Syriait isless easy thanin Damascus...

Gregorios III: In
Damascus too it is not easy!The
peoplenaturallyavoidlargegatherings andtheystay home when it gets dark.Butit ismuch more criticalin other areas.The famousChristianpilgrimageMaalulawasstormed byarmed
gangsin early September, the city Sadadwith a largeSyrian
Orthodoxcommunitywas attackedin late October.More than50peoplewere killed.
Theterroristattackersbrutally killedseveralpeople; fiveof themurderedwerethrown
into a well. This is an incredibletragedy.Andin Aleppo,
people are living like in aprison;
the city issurroundedby armedgroups.

Kidnapping
is a major problem in Syria...

Gregorios III: People
are kidnapped, including many Christians.In April, theSyriac
OrthodoxArchbishop MarGregoriosYohannaIbrahim andtheGreek OrthodoxBishopBulosYazigiwere
abductedby armedgangs.Itdoes not only hithigh
dignitaries, ordinarySyriansarealsovictims
of kidnapping. Relatives of minewere
also abducted. During the attackonMaalulasix people wereabductedby the attackers,their whereabouts are still unknown.

You
mentioned thetwo abductedSyrianbishops.Are there anysigns of life?

Gregorios III: No.
The earth has swallowed them; there are no signs until
yet.

Gregorios III: There
are manyrumors.Notonly in terms ofthe locationof the bishopsbut alsotheir release. It was said on several
occasions that they would bereleased soon, but
never confirmed. Unfortunately, Ihave
to say that to datethere isno reliableinformation. Butthey are very likelystill alive.

What is
the roleof fleeing
and expulsion?

Gregorios III: Unfortunately,a large one.About450,000SyrianChristianshave fled since the crisis began. Many
of themhave left the country mainly toLebanon.The houses
andshopsof these peopleweredestroyed during the war, oftentheywere driven
out byextremists.More than 40churcheshave beendestroyedso far.The
brutality of thebanditsis oftenlimitless.The churchstands on the sideof the people.And that's always been and will alwaysremain so.Our facilitieshave becomefocal points forthe Syrianswho need help. And wehelp alloppressedSyrians, whetherChristiansorMuslims.

In Europeand the U.S.Christiangroups andpartieshaverepeatedly declaredtheirsupport for the"rebels"in Syria, even theGermanCDU has...

Gregorios III: It
must be said fairlythat Germanyhas
held back if compared toother
Europeancountries.Overall, theEuropean countries support theso-called"armed opposition" in Syria.According to the UnitedNations, there
arecountless differentgroupsofso-calledrebels
fightingin Syria.These militiasare uncontrollable; theykillcivilians anddestroytheir homes.I ask myself: How
can you be on the sideof these people?
I understand verywell thatyousupporta politicalopposition, butnotbandits andterrorists.This supportis irresponsibleand criminal.

Is thissupportof the
rebelsdiscussedin the Christian
communitiesin Syria?

Gregorios III: This
affectsnot only theChristians,
butallSyrians. Muslimsand Christiansin
Syriaareonother handshockedthat
Europesupportsthesecriminal gangs. The Syriansarenot onlydisappointed,
butoutraged.Theyagreethat Europehas no right to do so.

TheEuropeansupportersof the rebelssaythey do soin the interestof the Syrians...

Gregorios III: Excuse
me, but thisisreallynonsense.As I said earlier, political oppositionisquite
different thanthese criminalgangs.The European countrieswant to overthrowthe Syriangovernment andPresident Basharal-Assad. You might thinkit
is all aboutone person.But this isanything
butlogical.Rather thanacting in a positiveandconstructive way, theEU countries simply
sponsorthe destructionof Syria.Where isthe
alternative to thepresent governmentin Damascus?Whowill
replaceit? Where is theopposition?It hasno
face.Throughout thiswar, there isno politicalopposition, there is
only chaosand violence.

The western mainstream mediawrites that the oppositiondemonstratedpeacefully in the beginning; it was only
later, in self-defenseagainst
the Syrianarmy, that it armed
itself...

Gregorios III: This
is wrong. These gangswere active
from the beginning, but no onewanted
tobelieveus. The violencewas alwaysthere. I have readthe
reportsin the European mediaandwas appalled bythe lies andfalseallegations. It
is a bigconspiracy againstSyria.

InGermanythemainstreammedia
writes thattheSyrian Christiansact"loyal to the
regime" becausetheyfear for their"privileges" and that they arethe"profiteers of the dictatorship" ...

Gregor III: (Laughing)
they writeaboutus
as if we are immature children! These so-calledprivilegesarea myth.Religiousfreedomisnot the achievementofour governmentorany party. This is part ofourSyrianidentitythatdifferent religionslive togetherpeacefullyandfreely. NeitherAssadnor his fatherHafez, nor the rulingBaath
Partyhaveintroducedthis religiousfreedom here, it existedlong before.Religiousfreedomis
not a"privilege"! It
isourtradition, an important pillarof ourSyriannational and culturalidentity.

"The Christians hold onto the regime," writes the largestGermannewspaperBILD
...

Gregorios III: What is that, I ask myself? Such
statements show only how the media would like to see us: in struggle against
the government. And because Christians behave normally and do not fight against
the government in Damascus, they are now called "loyal to the
regime". But to whom shall we run to please? To armed gangs? The question
concerns not only the Christians in Syria. I assume that 60 to 80 percent of
Syrians are "loyal to the regime" in the eyes of the West. You see,
we Christians are ordinary Syrian citizens, we have no special status. We are
neither preferred nor discriminated. We love our country, regardless of who is
in power in Damascus. Our Christian bishops are accused that they speak with the
government. But who shall they speak with otherwise? They are in favor of
reconciliation, not weapons and violence. I espouse that the people come
together again. This is an eyesore to the Europeans, because of their political
interests they would rather see Syria in chaos and violence.

The
establishedEuropean mediaand governmentsalways claim that there is a religious warragingin Syria. The
Sunnimajority of the countryrevolting
againstAlawites, Christians and Shiites...

Gregorios III: Nonsense.The victims of this warareChristians andMuslimsalike.Syrians, no matter what religionthey belongto, stick together in the peaceful
regions. Inthewarzones there aremainlyMuslimvictimsofgangs whocallthemselvesMuslim.From the 120,000deadin this warthe majority ofMuslims were killed byIslamistextremistgangs.

Gregorios III: There
were threerealmartyrs in
Maalula.ThreeChristianswere toldby theIslamistattackers that theyshouldconvert tothe
Muslim faith. The Christianssaid
to them: "We respectyour
faith, but weareChristians, and wewant
to dieas Christians". Then the first one was shot dead, the other two had towatchit.
Soeven thoughtheyknew theattackers were serious, theyrefused
todrop theirChristian faith.They were also killed.This is real martyrdom.

How do you
seethe chances forpeacein Syria?

Gregorios III: I
believe in thepower of prayer. The
whole world thought that Syria will be bombed by theUnited States at the same time when PopeFranciswas calling in early
Septemberto pray for peaceinSyria.Butitdid not happen.And I am sure that thisis also thanks toour prayers.The Syriangovernmentagreed to thedestruction of itschemical weapons
which was a good andimportant step.The acutedanger of afirestorm onSyriawas averted. Now it is importantthat allthe powersinvolved,
whetherthe countries of theEU, the U.S., Russia, Iran, theGulf StatesandSyriaof course,work
together to finda peaceful solution.To pray for that is worthy!